Born in a respectable family, Venerable Tissa once received a
coarse cloth, which he passed to his sister at first. Feeling that is was
unsuitable for him, she took it apart and reweaved it. When he asked for it
again, to make it into a robe, his sister returned the refined cloth,
explaining what she did to improve it, so that he would accept it. When the robe was ready, Tissa liked
it very much, as he folded and laid it on a rack, planning to wear it the next
day.
However, during that night, due to severe
indigestion, he died. As he was
so attached to the robe, with it as his last thought, he was reborn as a louse
crawling about its folds. After his funeral, some monks decided to divide the
robe among themselves. As heard by the Buddha with his supernormal hearing and
comprehension, the louse, while scrambling to and fro, screamed in angry
protest, claiming that they were stealing and destroying his property.
The Buddha thus instructed all to put the
robe aside for seven days, after which the louse was reborn in Tusita heaven
due to remnant positive karma and dying ‘content’. Thereafter, he explained
that the louse would had held a strong grudge against the monks as his last
thought if they took the robe earlier, leading to his rebirth in hell.
Thereupon, he uttered the verse above, to caution on the danger of unchecked attachment, even
to requisites, which can obstruct spiritual purification and even lead to lower
rebirths. Below are 3 more important lessons to learn from this incident.
[1] As
attachment is possible even to simple objects, despite good intentions, laity
should not give luxurious offerings to monastics, lest they ‘spoil’ them
materially and spiritually.
[2] Death can come swiftly without
warning, which is why the Dharma should be diligently practised, with more
attention on matters spiritual than material, as death-proximate karma will link one to
a corresponding plane of existence. Without the Buddha’s skilful means, Tissa
would have had a worse rebirth.
[3] Attachment can be so strong that it
insensibly overflows to the next life. In fact, this is why most are reborn!
Source : TheDailyEnlightenment
(Posted by Shen Shi'an on September 2, 2015)
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